In several applications it is helpful to determine the location of a sound source using microphones that capture acoustic energy generated by that sound source.
One way to determine this location is to search the space for an area of maximum energy. This approach typically is not robust against interference, such as noise and reverberation.
Another way to determine this location is to determine the difference in arrival times at different microphones. An acoustic wave from a sound source will arrive at different times at different sensors at different locations. A common approach for measuring this difference involves measuring a phase difference of the signals received by a pair of microphones by finding a peak of a cross correlation function. This approach is not robust against interference, such as noise and reverberation.